Justice News

Washington State Man Sentenced to 41 Months in Prison for Filing False Liens Against Government Officials

Claimed That Each Official Owed Him More Than $5 Billion

Ronald James Davenport of Chewelah, Wash., was sentenced to 41 months in prison today for filing more than $20 billion in false liens against four federal government officials, the Justice Department and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) announced today. In addition, Judge Garr M. King, U.S. District Judge for the District of Oregon, sitting by designation, ordered Davenport to serve three years of supervised release.

Davenport’s convictions date from last November when, following a two-day trial, a federal jury in the Eastern District of Washington returned guilty verdicts against Davenport on four counts of filing retaliatory liens against government officials. According to the evidence presented at trial, in December 2009, Davenport filed false liens against the property interests of the U.S. Attorney and the Clerk of Court for the Eastern District of Washington, as well as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and an Internal Revenue Service Revenue officer.

The liens were filed in the county auditor records of Spokane and Whatcom Counties, Wash. Each lien claimed that the victim owed Davenport $5,184,000,000. It also purported to attach all of the victim’s real and personal property as security for this debt. As proved at trial, the defendant chose these four victims because of their involvement in an effort to collect from Davenport more than $250,000 in back taxes.

The case was investigated by TIGTA and prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Tax Division. Both the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the District Court for the Eastern District of Washington were recused from the case.